JES28

Does anyone have personal experience with both of these hotels? I thought I was going to stay at the Hotel Iturregi until I saw that it's actually located on a hill 10 mins from Getaria. I'm not opposed to that at all and it looks amazing. However, then I saw the Saiaz Getaria hotel right on the water and for a much more reasonable price. I'm willing to spend more if it's worth the difference, but wondering if being right on the water and walking distance to everything makes more sense.
Can anyone weigh in?

ribeirasacra

Never stayed at the Saiaz walked past it it and saw that the near by parking is non existent. It seems that not all bedrooms have a sea view, some overlook the street. Nice location if you bear these facts in mind.

kimhe

I would have stayed in "down-town" Getaria, close to the fabulous retaurants and pintxos bars.

Robert2533

I'm very familiar with both properties.

The Hotel Iturregi is a 4-star luxury botique with only 8 rooms. It sits on a hillside overlooking Getaria's Txokoli vineyards and the coast. It's the perfect place for a quiet get-away, only 30 km from Donostia, one hour from the Bilbao and the airport. It does have a swimming pool, nice for relaxing after a long day, and it's only a 30-minute walk to Elkano, if you wanted to be like a local and walk to lunch.

As ribeirasacra mentions, parking in Getaria can be a pain, especially on the weekends and during high season.

The Saiaz Getaria Hotela is a little larger property, 17 rooms, some of which overlook the sea, and is only a few minutes walk from nearly every restaurant in Getaria, including Elkano. It's a comfortable, reasonably priced hotel with a few larger rooms for families. The staff is excellent. It does have some parking available on the ground floor.

JES28

Thanks for the quick replies and descriptions, very helpful.
In looking closer at the photos, I see that Saiaz isn't right on the water (as it first appeared)- There is actually a road in between. Does anyone know how busy this road is? Or how busy/noisy the town is late at night or early in the morning?
I love the idea of hearing the water while we sleep but not traffic

Robert2533

The road leads down to the harbor. It's not a problem day or night. The town is fairly quiet most of the time except during fiesta.

Since this is a working community, people tend to retire early. You'll find it very quiet before midnight.

ribeirasacra

The road is the ring around the old town. The road can be used for transporting the fish away from the harbour etc. The speed limit is supposed to be only 40kph. You will find there is parking along this road for the beach.
The road is nowhere as busy as the road running through the town and along the coast.
You will have to expect some noise form the road due to these factors.

kimhe

As Robert says, Getaria is a quiet town. The road below the hotel should give little noice as the hotel sits a little back from 10-15 meters high cliffs. The hotel is therefore also a "Relais du Silence" place.

There will of course be a little traffic as this is one of the two roads to the small port and to one of the beaches. But noise is the last thing I think about when it comes to Getaria. Except from the water of course, the sea can be pretty rough around here every now and then.

The hotel is on the top of the cliffs in this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIwzvU1gJqc

And this clip from the hotel itself tells you all you need to know, I guess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrDp5q3EyTw

ribeirasacra

Oh you are worried about road noise? When we stayed we had a accommodation right in the old town. The church bells ring every 1/4 hour and something we did not count on until in the accommodation.
Thankfully they stop overnight but start early in the morning again.

JES28

Thanks so much for the amazing feedback - exactly what I needed!! Kimhe, the videos were perfect!
Riberiasacra, Good point and funny...When I was in Marrakesh, the prayer call woke us up at 4am with the loudest noise I could have ever imagined. I thought we were under attack!

ekscrunchy

JES28: I wonder which of the two properites you chose. I am facing a similar decision for a visit in late October.

http://www.hoteliturregi.com/eng/


http://saiazgetaria.com/


Would love to hear comments about the two hotels. I understand that parking is difficult in Getaria, so the idea of having to drive to town from the Iturregi and then hunt for parking is not appealing. But the Iturregi appears to be really gorgeous.

We plan to drive to Getaria after a Saturday lunch at Extebarri. I would like to have luch at Elkano on the following day, Sunday. The possibly explore that afternoon and the next day, before heading to San Sebastian.

It is diffucult to get an idea of the layout of the sea-view rooms from the Saiaz website; if anyone prefers that hotel, and remembers their room, do let me know…

So please weigh in with comments; Robert I know you have stayed at both and you appear to like both very much. Do you ahve a preferred room with sea view at the Iturregi?

Robert2533

The first thing you do is email the Saiaz Getaria and ask Alex for one of the six seaview rooms. They are the first to go. The ones on the Gothic tower side rooms are not bad and there is a comfortable common area overlooking the sea.

ekscrunchy

Which of these seaview rooms would you recommend for a couple who (without getting too personal here..) like their space at night so one can read with light on and one can watch tv, at various hours.....there are 6 seaview double, two double superior, and two junior suites. ("Not bad.."??)

More fun to be in the town, at Saiaz than outside, I assume, although the latter will be fine assuming good waether in late October..

Thank you again for all for your help..I hope that all who read this will avail themselves of the tremendous resources offerfed without charge by the Maribels Guides, where I have read of these two properties…

http://www.maribelsguides.com/mg_san_sebastian.pdf

Robert2533

Go for the Junior suite and tell them Maribel recommended it!

But also remember that the Iturregi has a nice outdoors pool, but I'm not sure it will be open in October. You'll have to ask.

ekscrunchy

Robert, I much appreciate the help you have offered to me, and to many other Spain-bound travelers, over the years. One of these days you will be my guest over a long and delectable meal--what about Elkano in October ???



I do hope that many others, who would like a more in-depth insight than the average travel guide, will take a look at this site which has helped me so much over many trips to Spain:

http://www.iberiantraveler.com/

Robert2533

>what about Elkano in October< Thanks for the great offer, and we would love to meet you there, but I'm unable to travel until January (doctor's orders). We even have had to pass up our annual trip to Pamplona for the Fiesta this year, the first time in 16 years. But such is life, and there's always tomorrow!

kimhe

Hope you`re back on track soon Robert, and Gora San Fermín!

Robert2533

Thanks kimhe. 10 more sessions of chemo should do it, so the doctor says. At least I'm working with the best in the Northwest.

JES28

Robert, wishing you all the best in your recovery. I have been going through chemo with one of my parents all year and I know how tough it is. I hope you are back to traveling again very soon!

Exscrunchy, we actually chose neither...someone on Fodor's recommended Villa l'Arche right over the border in France http://www.villalarche.com/fr/ when answering a different question and we ended up really liking the feel of it (at least online!), the proximity to the water and the location.

We are going in the hear of tourist season so we were worried about dealing with parking at Saiaz and wanted something a little more intimate for our honeymoon - although the hotel manager who responded seemed so lovely and I would definitely consider staying another time.

We decided against Iturregi because the rooms we preferred weren't available and we read several reviews that they would not allow you to eat (or I think drink) anything on your private balcony and seemed to have a lot of rules that weren't all that friendly.

Good luck with the planning, would like to hear where you end up too!

IMDonehere

Robert, here's to better health.